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Investment-banking fees

ON AVERAGE over the last three years, GE (General Electric), has paid out more in investment-banking services than any other corporation. Last year alone it spent $278m. Most of that went on debt raising, but mergers and acquisitions contributed too. In October 2012 GE sold $7 billion of bonds. JP Morgan, one of GE's advisors, earned $5.6 billion fees last year, more than any other bank. Bank of America Merrill Lynch was the next biggest earner, with $4.9 billion in fees. But both banks' fee revenue fell in 2012. According to Thomson Reuters, a financial-data provider, fees for global investment banking services were $74.8 billion last year, their lowest for three years.

To see the value added by these banksters (management consultants being another industry with questionable value added), it would be interesting to regress shareholder returns against the fees, lagged by about five years.

GE - they do around 10 acquisitions/divestitures a month, frequent refinancing/debt issuances
AIG - you realize those fees were/are for the ongoing restructuring services right?
Porsche - failed takeover, raising debt, volkswagen acquisition
These were decisions by the management team